Gate.



No. 739,122. PATENTED SEPT. 15 1903.

T. F. TIMBY.

GATE. APPLICATION FILED APR. 18, 1903. H0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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UNITED STATES mama September 15, 1903 PATENT OFFICE.

THEODORE F. TIMBY, 'oF ALMA, MICHIGAN.

GATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 739,122, dated September 15, 1903.

Application filed April 18, 1903. Serial No. 153,301. (No model.)

To. all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEODORE F. TIMBY, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Alma, in the State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Gates, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to vertically-adjustable swinging gates, such as are commonly termed farm-gates, and the improved gate is preferably and conveniently adapted to swing open on either side of the fence and to be self-closing. It is also adapted to be sold and shipped in knocked-down form and to be readily assembled and erected by unskilled laborers. It is also adapted to be made and used with a fence-high hinge-post, so that the lowered gate is of the'same or substantially the same height as the fence and both gate-posts. i

The present invention consists in certain novel combinations of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed, having the following distinguishing objects: to reduce the friction at the fulcrum of the raising and lowering lever; to support the weight of the gate as it is felt at this point on ball-bearings; to facilitate hanging and unhanging the gate,and to adequately distribute the strain incident to the support of the raised gate.

Two sheets of drawings accompany this specification as part thereof. v

Figures 1 and 2 are front elevations of the improved gate, showing it respectively lowered and raised. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary front view with parts broken away, showing the latch and latch-post. Fig. 4 is a section on the line A B, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is an edge view of a portion of a front batten provided with lever-rests. Fig. 6 is a fragmentary face View showing the load-carrying pivot of the adjusting-lever and its appurtenances. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a device for attaching a pair of tie-rods to said pivot. Fig. 8 is a face view on the same scale as Figs. 3 to 8, inclusive, of the hinge end of the gate, showing the hinges and their appurtenances. Fi g, 9 is a top view of the parts shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 10 represents a section on the line C D, Fig. 8, showing the parts in the plane of section and immediately below the same. Fig.

- 11 is a like sectional plan view at E F, Fig.

one end of a connecting-piece 10.

8. 12 is alike view at G H, Fig. 8; and Fig. 13 represents a vertical section through the fulcrum of the adjusting-lever.

Like numbers and letters referto like parts in all the figures.

The improved gate is intended and adapted to be hung between two fence-high posts 1 and 2 or equivalent supports, and includes, preferably, a false post 3 to be sold as part thereof for attachment to the hinge-post 2.

The latch-post 1 is provided with a vertically-elongated double-faced catch a, preferably formed by narrow boards nailed to beveled corners of the post, as best shown in Fig. 4. To interlock with. this catch a a normally protruding latch b is loosely suspended by links between two of the longitudinal boards of the gate-body l, as in Fig. 3, and is provided with a handle 5, by which to retract the latch to open the gate. A pair of inclined battens c and (1, serving primarily to brace and stiffen the latch end of the gate, serve also to support the inner end of the latch b laterally, so as to aid in keeping the same in place sidewise. Of said inclined battens, the front batten c is provided with lever rests or stops 6 and 7, which in common with the other hardware of the gate apart from carriage bolts are preferably light malleable iron castings and are clenched fast, as shown in Fig. 5.

When the adj L sting-lever 8 is beneath the lowermost stop 6, which is preferably square at both top and bottom, the gate is fully lowered, as in Fig. 1, and is held down so as not to be lifted by animals. The other stops 7 are preferably in the shape of ratchet-teeth, with square shoulders at top to interlock with saidlever 8 when the gate is raised, as in Fig. 2, or in any of its elevated positions. A handle e on the lever facilitates manipulating it to raise or lower the gate. Said lever 8 is attached to the gate-body 4 by a load-carrying pivot-bolt 9, passing through a pair of vertical battens f and between two of the longitudinal boards at the center of gravity of the gate-body and its load. This center, owing ,to the weight of the attachments at the hinge end, is about one-third the distance lengthwise from that end. Between said battens f said bolt 9 passes through a loop or loops g at (Shown detached by Fig.7.) This piece isT- shaped, having lateral projections h at its free end, which are notched at top to receive the headed ends of tie-rods 11, which extend obliquely upward therefrom to notched projections 1' (shown in Figs. 8 and 9) on a hinge-piece 12 at the top of the gate-body, where nutsj on the screw-threaded upper ends of said tie-rods 11 provide for tightening up the gate as oocasion may require. The other parts of the hinge attachments comprise a bracket 13, attached to the gate-body opposite the protruding end of said hinge-piece 12; a pair of brackets 14 and 15, attached to the false post 3; a pair of vertical guide-rods 16 and 17, held by their ends, respectively, one of them, 16, in said hinge-piece 12 and the opposing bracket 13 and the other one in said brackets 14 and 15, and a pair of hinge-socket brackets 18 and 19, attached, respectively, to the false post and gate-body and embracing said guide-rods.

The bracket 14, at the upper end of the lower guide -rod 17, is of .peculiar construction, as shown in Figs. 8, 11, and 13. A socket 70 is formed in the bottom of its outer end, as shown in Fig. 13, to receive the upper end of said lower guide-rod 17, and a hole central to this socket extends upwardly to the top of the bracket. Upon this top of said bracket 1a the fulcrum 20 of the adjusting-lever 8 is superposed, as shown in Figs. 8 and 13, with a stem extending downward through said hole in said bracket lat into the upper end of said socket 7a, where it is fastened by upsetting its extremity beneath a washer, as shown in Fig. 13, so as to permanently attach the fulcrumpiece 20 and at the same time to render it swiveled. To render the movements of said fulcrum-piece as free from friction as is possible, and thus to render free the swinging movement of the gate-body 4, the weight of which is mainlysupported at this point, a ball-bearing 21 is formed between the fulcrum-piece 20 and the subjacent bracket 14,

as shown in Fig. 13. g Rigid ears projecting upwardly as part of the fulcrum-piece support between them a riveted pin, on which an antifriction roller 22 is free to rotate, as shown in Fig. 13. This roller is embraced by the open-ended slot of a bifurcated end piece 23, rigidly attached to the hinge end of the adjusting-lever 8, said slot being of sufiicient length to provide for the endwise movement of said end piece 23 relatively to said fulcrum 20 when the gate-body is raised or lowered. To reduce such endwise movement to the minimum, said fulcrum 20 is so located with reference to the height of the load-carrying pivot 9 of the adjusting-lever 8 that one half of the motion of said lever 8 relatively to the gate-body 1 is below and the other half above the plane of such pivot 9. The are described by the extremity of. said end piece 23 consequently extends equally toward and away from the central vertical plane of the fulcrum 20, and said endwise movement of the end piece 23 relatively to the fulcrum 20 is only one-half what it would be were the movement of said lever 8 wholly above or wholly below the plane of its pivot 9.

To prevent any binding of the sockets of the hinge-socket brackets 18 and 19 on the vertical guide-rods 16 and 17 when the gatebody 4 is raised and lowered, said sockets are preferably and conveniently formed by means of pairs grooved antifriction-rollers 24 and 25 between the checks of said hinge-socketbrackets 18 and 19, as shown in Figs. 8, 9, and 12, and to facilitate assembling the parts the outermost 25 of each pair of said rollers is removably pivoted in its-bracket by a detachable pivot-pin 25, as indicated in Fig. 8, Fig. 9, and Fig. 12. Such pin may be headed and screw-threaded at its respective ends, as indicated in Figs. 9 and 12. It will be seen that by removing these outermost rollers 25 the gate-body i and therewith the adjustinglever 8, upper guide-rod 16, and lower hingesocket bracket 19 may be freely removed from the parts attached to the false post 3 and as readily replaced.

To render the gate selfclosing, it is only necessary to locate the upper guide-rod 16 out of line with the lower guide-rod 17 toward the latch end of the gate. This has been done as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 8, and the hinge end of the gate-body has been shortened at top by about one inch and a half in a gate of the customary height of four feet to accommodate for said self-closing location of the upper guide-rod 16.

To shorten the upper hinge-socket bracket 18 and at the same time to fill out the extra space behind the upper guide-rod 16, due to its self-closin g location, an extension-piece 26 is preferably interposed between said bracket 18 and the false post 3. This extension-piece 26 may obviously be omitted by simply making the upper hinge-socket bracket 18 of additional length, and other like modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

The term hinge-post as hereinafter used is intended, if not specifically qualified, to mean the above-described hinge-post 2 with or without a false post 3 and the term false post to mean said false post with or without the extension-piece 26.

Having thus described said improvement, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specificationl. A vertically-adjustable swinging gate having, in combination with the gate body and hinge-post, an adjusting-lever pivoted to said body, a swiveled fulcrum for said lever attached to said hinge-post at mid-height, and hinges above and below said fulcrum.

2. A vertically-adjustable swinging gate having, in combination with the gate body and hinge-post, an adj usting-lever pivoted to said body, a swiveled fulcrum for said lever attached to said post and provided with a ball-bearing, and hinges above and below said fulcrum.

- 3. A vertically adjustable swinging gate piece, a fulcrum for said lever attached to said hinge-post, and provided with an antifriction-rollcrwithin the slot of said end piece, and hinges above and below said fulcrum.

4. A vertically adjustable swinging gate having, in combination with the gate body and hinge-post, an adjusting-lever pivoted to said body, and a fulcrum for said lever attached to said hinge-post, and hinges comprising vertical guide-rods, rod-supporting brackets attached respectively to said gate body and to said post, and hinge -socket brackets attached respectively to said post and said body and each provided with a pair of socketforming rollers embracing. said guide rods, the outer roller of each pair being removably pivoted in its bracket.

5. A vertically-adj ustable swinging gate having, in combination with the gatebody and hinge-post, an adjusting-lever, a central load -carrying pivot attaching said lever to said gate body, a fulcrum for said lever at-' tached tosaid hinge-post at mid-height,hinges above and below said fulcrum, and a tie-rod strain distributing device connecting said load-carrying pivot with the upper hinge.

6. A verticallyadjustable swinging gate having, in combination with the gate-body and hinge-post, an adjusting-lever, a central load carrying pivot attaching said lever to said gate-body, a coupling-piece attached to said pivot and constructed with notched lateral projections, tie-rods extending obliquely upward from said projections, a hinge-piece at the top of said gate-body having notched projections with which said tie-rods are interlocked, and means fortightenin g said tie-rods.

. THEODORE F. TIMBY.

Witnesses:

J AS. L. EWIN, E. THOS. LOFTUS. 

